Obama Makes History with First Seder at White House

WASHINGTON [AP] — President Barack Obama hosted close friends and staff at a private White House meal Thursday evening to mark Passover. It’s part of the new president’s effort to reach out to Jewish voters.

The White House said the Seder meal was traditional, including matzo, bitter herbs, a roasted egg and greens in the family dining room in the executive mansion. The evening also featured the reading of the Haggadah, the religious text of the holiday.

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Borough President Celebrates Birchas Hachama with Chabad

Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin and BP Markowitz lead Birkat Hachamah observance outside Borough Hall

BROOKLYN, NY [CHI] — On Wednesday Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joined community leaders and children in song and celebration for a Birkat Hachamah ceremony led by Shliach Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin. The Talmud teaches that every 28 years the Sun returns to the same position, at the same time of day as that of the beginning of creation. A special blessing—Birkat Hachamah (“the sun blessing”)—is recited to mark this moment in time. Wednesday’s gathering was a project of Congregation Bnai Avraham and Chabad of Brooklyn Heights.

FDA: Tests Uncover Listeria Contamination in Kosher Salmon

Agency warns consumers to avoid eating product

NEW YORK [FDA] — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned consumers not to eat Strubs Norwegian Style Sliced Smoked Steelhead Salmon in 300 gram packages because of potential contamination with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. L. monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that can cause serious illness and death.

Distributed by West Side Foods Inc. of Bronx, N.Y., the smoked steelhead salmon was imported from Canada, and 13 cartons were sold to three kosher retail stores in New York and Maryland.

Chabad Smuggle Matzah Into Iran

By Itamar Eichner for YNetNews

IRAN — Members of the Chabad organization smuggled a huge quantity of matzot into Iran last week in order to enable local Jews in the Islamic Republic to celebrate the Passover according to tradition.

Some 20,000 Jews currently live in Iran. The authorities allow them freedom to practice their religion, but forbid the import of Israel-made products to the country, an act that could cost a person three years imprisonment or the revoking of his passport for five years.

Senator Lieberman Birchas Hachama with Chabad

Hundreds including Senator Joseph Lieberman joined in the Birchat Hachamah in Stamford this morning. The gathering in a Cove Park on the shore of Long Island Sound began with a Vasikin Minyan – as the gathering waited for the sun to appear from behind the clouds Rabbi Yisrael Deren addressed the assembled with a Sicha from the Rebbe on the significance of the day followed by a siyum delivered by Rabbi Levi Mendelow.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

Holiday Requires Many Advance Preparations

By Meredith Moss for the Dayton Daily News

KETTERING, OH — For Rochel Simon, Passover always brings a “sparkling, clean feeling” that comes from both physical and spiritual renewal. It also brings a lot of hard work.

Tonight, April 8, the Kettering mom, her husband and their two children join friends and family at a seder meal to retell the story of their people’s exodus from Egyptian bondage. The 3,000-year-old Jewish holiday celebrates religious freedom.

Yud Aleph Nissan in Toronto!

TORONTO, Canada [CHI] — On Sunday morning 11 Nissan, in honor of the Rebbe’s 107th Birthday, 5 Mitzvah Tanks went out into the streets of Toronto to spread Torah and Mitzvos and the Spirit of the Yom Tov of Pesach to the Jewish Community at large.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

Birkas Hachama at Sunrise on the Space Coast!

SATELLITE BEACH, FL [CHI] — Approximately 40 people gathered im Satellite Beach’s Pelican Park at sunrise to recite the Bircat Hachama. The blessing was led by Rabbi Zvi Konikov of Chabad of the Space & Treasure Coasts (FL) who explained the significance of this momentous occasion as well as leading in the blessing and accompanying Song/Niggun. Excitement was in the air at 7:05 am when the sun’s orb was clearly seen rising above the stunning ocean and shining it’s rays upon it.

More pictures and a video in the Extended Article!